We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And also that there are universal laws behind our pleasure. How can you use these laws of rhetoric to your advantage when speaking and presenting?
In this blog post, we'll look at 9 ways you can apply the laws of nature to your speeches and presentations.
What is behind the good impression of a speech or presentation?
Our sense of beauty is essentially based on the mechanisms of our perception and is shaped by our previous experiences with beauty – and its opposite, the ugly and repulsive. These stored experiences unconsciously shape our presentation skills, our presentation technique and our expression when speaking.
What ultimately determines our perception when looking at a picture or a landscape, listening to a piece of music or experiencing a speech is determined by basic human needs:
- after stimulation and variety
- for harmony
- after movement
- by orientation
- for clarity
- by connection
- for independence
- the need to be part of a larger whole
How do you use these needs for your speech?
Always remember: It doesn't matter what you say. The only thing that matters is what you do in your listeners!
Therefore, in every moment of speech, align your words, your actions and movements, and not least your manner of speaking and your voice, with the most important universal laws of design:
1. The Law of First Impressions
What do your listeners expect from you?
- Sovereignty: Only when you have yourself under control at the moment of appearance do you radiate leadership strength. Don't babble with the usual phrases right away, but take notice of the room and establish contact with your audience before you speak.
- Leadership: Instead of the usual greeting, address the core concerns of your audience at the beginning, then you are welcome to talk about organizational matters.
- "What is in for me?": Before you lose a single word about your topic solutions, pick up your listeners suggestively in their own lives. Use figurative language or storytelling for this.
2. The Law of Image Depth
Every successful photograph shows foreground, motif – and background.
- When building up your speech, make sure to emphasize important things, keep clearly reminding you of the main motif and pointedly putting details in the background.
3. The Law of Dynamics and Tension
You may have seen photomontages of faces in which two identical halves of the face have been placed next to each other. It looks strangely bland and uninteresting – just without tension.
- Avoid monotony in speech and structure.
Build tension by addressing a problem and showing negative consequences first before presenting solutions. Set pauses before important statements. Make people curious about the last point of your story.
4. The Law of Fall Height
Does your speech hold any surprises? Images become interesting because surprising insights are revealed at second glance.
- Don't shoot your powder at the beginning.
If everything has already been said, there is no reason to continue talking.
5. The Law of Contrast.
If you look at the photo of a landscape where all the details are blurred in the fog without showing a detail clearly, you will quickly turn the pages.
If you want to attract attention, you should offer strong contrasts:
- Alternation between less important details and clearly highlighted mnemonic sentences
- Tension-creating pauses before you formulate your clear message
- Emphasise opposites and actively clarify them gesturally
Light (your solution) stands out more clearly against a dark background. Keep this in mind if you want to highlight a detail of your speech.
- Show us the background with your words first before you talk about a particularly important detail.
6. The Law of Repetition
Do you know that good feeling when you drive through a foreign city and are happy to recognize a famous building? Don't be afraid to repeat important details or key sentences. "Hammer the message!" When speaking, learning does not begin until the third repetition.
- Regularly summarize what has been said in short words.
- If you're talking about three solutions, repeat the previous ones as a summary after each point.
7. The Law of Rhythm
If you want to be more persuasive, keep your Speech or presentation as rhythmically as possible – both in structure and content.
- Outline breaks: After each coherent point of your speech, give your audience a longer pause to process and save.
- Pauses in speech: Always ask your audience intelligent questions, which you answer yourself after a pause in reaction. But beware: Banal bogus questions are punished by the audience with disinterest.
8. The Law of Individualization
Talk as if you were talking to a single person in person.
- Don't talk to your audience, talk to your guests!
Enter into an active dialogue when presenting, even if only you are speaking. Awaken strong associations and memories, illustrate facts with tangible examples.
9. The Law of Depth
Finally, to come back to a particularly mysterious feature of beautiful pictures:
When you look at pictures by great artists, you often get the impression that behind the simple surface of what is depicted there is a significant higher message.
- Your audience wants to be able to see what inner motivations motivate you to talk about your topic in such a committed way.
- Be clear about your personal "why".
The deeper you recognize your personal motivation, the stronger and more meaningful your presentation will be. In other words, take your time to uncover a deeper layer beneath what you're saying on the surface. This will significantly enhance your presentation and touch your audience.
If you are curious about how you can put these nine laws of rhetoric into practice for your topics, Feel free to talk to me about it.
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The author:
Arno Fischbacher is a business voice coach and rhetoric expert, speaker and author. He prepares executives and employees of the top companies in Germany and Austria for negotiations, presentations and media appearances. Fischbacher is the author of several books, past president of the German Speakers Association (GSA) Austria, chairman of the European Network of Voice Experts, stimme.at.
If you would like to learn more about specific training opportunities with Arno Fischbacher, make an appointment here free information talk.
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